Chinese Fried Red Chili Sauce

I visit the Asian markets probably about twice a month. I often pick up green papaya for making som tam, maybe some dumplings, or siapao, and a couple of condiments. One of my favorite condiments is this Chinese fried red chili sauce. It’s basically a lot of red chili flakes, garlic, ginger, and fermented black beans that is slow cooked in a bunch of oil. It’s flipping amazing. I put it on everything, and I mean everything. It’s almost as addicting as Sriracha, but more mellow. It stores great as well which makes it even better. As I ran out, my buddy sent me a recipe that I tweaked ever so slightly, and it was just as good, if not better.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of Chinese black fermented beans
• 6 cloves garlic, grated into a paste
• 2 tbsp ginger, grated into a paste
• 1 cup red chili flakes
• 2 tbsp dark sesame oil
• 2 cups peanut oil
• 1 tbsp salt

Start by adding the fermented black beans, and any remaining garlic ends into a food processor. Pulse until it is nice and fine.

Add the oil to a saucepan on medium-low heat. Add in the ginger, garlic, and fermented beans, along with the red chili flakes. Give a good stir, and cook for about 30 minutes, making sure the oil mixture stays at about 225 degrees. Once cooked at that temperature for 25 minutes, remove from the heat and let cool.

Once cooled, stored in a sealed tight container.

Again, the sauce is awesome. It is perfect in every way. It’s not to spicy which is why it goes great with pretty much everything. I put it on my eggs in the morning, kebabs, rice, pasta, and well, you get the idea. Give this one a shot, I’m certain you will love it as much as I do.